I killed a nice 16" wide very symetric 8 pt. Monday evening at 5:30 pm. It was hot about 83 deg. Didn't matter to the buck, he bedded down at 50 yds for about 20 mins and then came right to the open bottle of "deer dander" at bottom of the tree! shot him at 9 yds through some very thick holly bushes, only had one small opening. When I hit him he almost fell right there? He only ran 20 yds and I watched him take his last breath about 10 sec. later. When I got to him, the arrow had hit him just below the spine and came the gut. From what I can tell it didn't hit the spinal cord, but he went down like a dbl lunger. What did I really hit? That vein everyone speaks of or just hit nerves to the spine and he bled out that quickly??

I'd just be happy about the kill!!! Any pics?

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If you hit him next to the spine you probably cut a main artery and she bled out real quick.

We need pix!!!

Artery under the spine will bleed out a deer or elk in less that 10 sec.

If you had an arrow break your back you would fall instantly to no matter if the spinal cord was hit or not. Thats alot of KE in one spot.

Shot selection.....?

PICTURES!!!!!!

Thanks guys for the opinions. I was aiming for the boiler maker, however, I think my arrow hit a limb and deflected? It was a clean pass through, I hit him way back, about middle of his body just close to his spine. I would love to show some pics, however, I do not know how to upload them and they are on a friends camera at the moment, I am working on both. I also have some pics ready to upload of deer that I have killed in the past, some bow ,some shotgun. I would love for you guys to try and score them from looking at the pics, I never had them scored. My biggest buck to date with gun or bow was killed in 97, a massive main framed 7 with a kicker point at the back of his base. He was 4 1/2 ". at the base, 23" inside spread and massive, and tall. He weighed 182 lbs. on the hoof. Big deer for southeast Va. I guess it is good to be lucky sometimes when shooting a bow!!!

You most likely hit the superior portion of the femoral artery that runs just below the spine.Two years ago I shot a BB at 35 yards and the angle/distance he was standing at made my arrow cut that vein in half as it passed through him. Anyways, I shot him and knew I hit him good, but was absolutely blown away when he literally took two leaps (about 10 yds) and dropped dead. He literally died in less than 2 seconds. When I gutted him, I discovered I indeed had hit the artery below the spine as my arrow passed through him and there was an unbelievable amount of blood in his chest because it all poured out of the vein into the chest.

Heres a pic where you can see the entrance hole. Its not as far back as what I think you are describing, but the artery runs the length of the spine until it reaches the back legs.